The University will establish a new center for Islamic studies geared toward undergraduate education, Provost Peter Lange announced Wednesday.
"The Duke Islamic Studies Center will seek to advance interaction and understanding between citizens of American and Muslim cultures," Lange said in a statement.
DISC will offer a curriculum that includes a first-year course in Islamic studies, foreign language instruction, study abroad programs, a senior thesis option and a certificate for qualified students.
In addition to a broadened curriculum, DISC will try to recruit undergraduates and visiting scholars from predominantly Muslim countries.
Officials plan to establish a residential fellowship program to attract Islamic scholars from abroad.
Bruce Lawrence, the Nancy and Jeffrey Marcus Humanities Professor of Religion, will serve as the first director of DISC. An Islamicist, Lawrence said the center will reshape Duke's approach to Islamic studies.
"What does not exist right now is a depth and breadth of courses that accurately reflect the Muslim world," Lawrence said in a statement. "This is almost a dream come true for me."
James and Audrey Gorter, parents of two Duke alumni, made the center possible with a donation of $1.5 million for an endowed professorship.
The terms of the Gorter family's donation direct the funds to support "a scholar of true eminence and excellence in the field of Islamic Studies whose primary appointment is within [the Trinity College of] Arts & Sciences," Peter Vaughn, executive director of alumni and development communications, wrote in an e-mail.
"The Gorters' support of Islamic studies at Duke is intended to increase Western students' knowledge of Arab/Islamic religion, culture and language and to expose Muslim students to Western education and ideas," Vaughn added.
Several students said DISC is a welcome addition to Duke's religious offerings.
"It's important, especially in today's world, that people are aware of Muslims and what we believe and not get all their information from unreliable sources," said Zubair Chao, a senior and president of the Muslim Students Association. "It's a good way to build understanding between people."
Junior Saad Mir, a religion major, said he hopes the center will raise the profile of Islamic studies at Duke.
"I'm hoping that this might bring in some extra professors and expand the number of Islamic classes that they offer each semester," Mir said. "It's limited right now, definitely limited."
Lawrence said DISC will absorb and replace the Center for the Study of Muslim Networks, a program directed by Ebrahim Moosa, associate professor of religion, and housed in the John Hope Franklin Center for Interdisciplinary and International Studies. Moosa will become the research director of DISC.
"This is the successor to the Center for the Study of Muslim Networks," Lawrence said. "It will be on a broader scale but will have the same international reach."
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